


Daniel Castellano, What Were You Thinking?!

by inasentimentalmood



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: F/M, Ficathon, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-26
Updated: 2014-01-26
Packaged: 2018-01-10 02:34:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1153739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inasentimentalmood/pseuds/inasentimentalmood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A post-‘The Desert’ Mindy feelings fic for the Mindy Project Hiatus Ficathon and Fanworks Free-for-all on LiveJournal. Mindy tries to make sense of what happened between her and Danny on the plane and, of course, ends up arguing with him about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Daniel Castellano, What Were You Thinking?!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [myr-soleil](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=myr-soleil).



> This fic is a response to [myr_soleil](http://myr-soleil.livejournal.com/)’s prompt, “Danny/Mindy, Mindy falling for Danny/realizing she loved him all alooooong” on [The Mindy Project Hiatus Ficathon and Fanworks Free-for-all on LiveJournal](http://rikyl.livejournal.com/25823.html?view=332511#t332511).

_Oh god. Oh god_. She was trapped on a plane with Danny Castellano and they had just made out. Big time. He had even grabbed her ass! _God._ And now he was there, inches away from her, not saying anything, not even looking at her.

Mindy pulled out her phone instinctively to call Gwen but thought better of it. It’s not like she could talk about Danny while he was still _right there_. He was doing that brooding thing, and she couldn’t read his expression. Thank god they were landing. She needed a donut, a scone, a cupcake, whatever—just some sort of baked good STAT. And she needed to get the hell away from him. _Just play dead_ she commanded herself, trying to tamp down the hysterics going through her head. _Play dead, Mindy._ They would talk about it later, just not now.

Once they landed, she made a beeline for the exit. “See you later, Danny,” was all she could muster as she rolled her suitcase from the plane to the terminal. He seemed content with them going their separate ways, and gave her some privacy to stew over her own mortification and confusion. This was the worst.

On the cab ride home she just couldn’t stop thinking about it, that kiss. Her lips kept involuntarily curving into a smile and she hated it. _What the hell, Danny???_ It didn’t make any sense.

_When you realize you want spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible._ Is that what was happening here? Did Danny have romantic feelings for her? It was so weird; she couldn’t wrap her head around it. Danny had feelings for her. And he had the worst timing. **Ever.** She had just professed her love to Cliff—with Danny’s help nonetheless! What was going on?? She was basically in love with Cliff. Yes, definitely in love with him.

But they were already on thin ice because of her run-in with Casey in L.A. She didn’t dare tell him about Danny. No, if she wanted any chance at a happy ending with Cliff, she’d have to shoot things down with Danny immediately. Mindy couldn’t remember the last time she had had to reject someone. Absolutely excruciating.

God, what was Danny _thinking_? He must have just been all pumped up from reconciling with his father and gotten confused. He thought of her as a lamp, he had told her that himself.

And she? How did she feel about Danny? There had never been an occasion for her to think of it. He was Danny, her belligerent, stubborn, infuriating co-worker. She loved to tease him for his old-fashioned ways and get him riled up. She had increasingly become reliant upon him to get her out of sticky situations and had grown accustomed to bouncing ideas off of him for advice, sure… but hadn’t she done the same for him with his stalker-ish neighbor ex and his dad? Were they _close_? She grimaced at that word because it didn’t seem to fit. Was he the best friend who was ‘there all along’ that she was supposed to fall in love with? No, not at all. That would imply that they were even friends in the first place. I mean, he had said they were but it still felt suspect. I guess they might be considered friends—strange, argument-prone, non-traditional ‘friends.’

_Did she respect him as a person?_ Sure. _Did he annoy the hell out of her?_ Yeah. But god, Daniel Castellano as her boyfriend? She just couldn’t picture it.

_We’d be horrible together,_ she thought to herself. She was going to murder him. She really was.

 

* * *

 

_Bang, bang, bang._ “Dammit, Danny, open your stupid door! I know you’re in there listening to Johnny Cash or something else equally awful.” The door swings open and Danny has a beer in hand. He grins a little to see how agitated she is but to her it’s no laughing matter. He knows that this could end very, very badly if he doesn’t play his cards just right.

She doesn’t say anything right away, just walks over and angrily opens the fridge, grabbing a beer for herself, thinks better of it and opts for a bottle of red wine on the counter. She helps herself to a left over half a sandwich, made with nice, thick bread (the way she likes it). She won’t talk. She’s still too mad. She chews, gulps down wine and takes another bite.

“Okay,” Danny starts out, somewhat tentatively, “you’re upset.”

“Upset?!” Mindy almost screams. “Danny, what was that? On the plane?” She glares hard at him. “I know you’re passionate and impulsive. In the moment it was, I’ll admit, romantic… dare I say hot.” She avoids his eyes with this comment. Danny look s a little smug until she continues. “But I’m with Cliff! He broke up with me because he suspected me of _CHEAT-ING ON HIM._ ” Bits of lettuce fly out of her sandwich as she gestures wildly. “Do you fully grasp the irony of this situation?” Danny’s face falls slightly. But then he rises to meet her anger with some of his own.

“All right, it was a stupid decision. I go with my gut. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Damn right you weren’t thinking!”

“Okay, you know what?” He jabs his hand in her direction. “Your indignation is a bit unjustified given the fact that you were kissing me back, wouldn’t you say?” He raises his eyebrows at her somewhat judgmentally. Her mouth forms an “O,” her indignation increasing.

“Excuse me?” she retorts. The sandwich is long gone.

“You heard me,” Danny replies, making eye contact then looking down at the floor.

At this point Mindy looks unsure of herself, which is uncharacteristic since she’s usually quite decisive, sometimes blindly so. Danny’s standing there trying to think of some way to articulate his frustration verbally, but he’s so infuriated that it takes awhile before any words come out.

“You want to deny what happened? Fine. Forget it. Go get Cliff back, whatever.” He waves his hand dismissively but the gesture is too forced, and gives away the fact that this is the exact opposite of what he wants.

“Yeah, okay,” she says quickly, though obviously too unsettled to mean it. And she’s also still curious. She still doesn’t get it, why he did what he did. “Danny, what the hell were you doing kissing me anyway? Do you want to be with me or something?”

He looks straight at her. “Yeah.” Simple. Unashamed. To the point. So Danny.

“Great,” she says reflexively while scratching her head. This conversation is basically getting her nowhere. She’s still just as confused as to what to do. Danny can sense her waffling and is starting to lose patience.

“Look Mindy, I’m not going to stand around trying to convince you to be with me. It’s obviously your choice and whatever you decide, I’ll respect it.”

He’s right. It’s not like she doesn’t know what she’s getting into, were she to be with him. Danny is just, well, himself—so much so. Confident. Self-righteous. Arrogant at times, yes. Selfish. And yet, something within her is curious about him…drawn to him. She doesn’t _get_ him; they’re just so different. But in a strange way she **wants** to get him. She’s seen enough flashes of his caring and vulnerability to want to see more. She wants to understand. God. She wants _Danny_!

Mindy groans in frustration.

_All the guys you date…are kind of **dicks**._ His words reverberate in her head. She hates that he’s right.

 “So you really think you’re better than these dicks I usually date?” She’s coming at this from an indirect angle but she hopes he catches her meaning. She tries to smile but she’s scared as hell.

He catches her meaning. He wasn’t expecting her to say that, to imply that he had a chance. He’s flummoxed. Yes, definitely flummoxed. He shuts his mouth when he realizes he’s gaping. “Huh,” he stammers before composing himself.  “I mean, not like that’s even hard.” He shrugs good-naturedly, then grins. Mindy moves closer to him.

“Danny, I must admit, this is _really_ strange.” And exciting, she thinks, but doesn’t articulate. There is a weird buzzing, giddy feeling growing inside of her. Danny Castellano, my god. It was going to take some getting used to.

He approaches her until they’re a foot apart, his hands in his jeans pockets. He looks at her intensely. “Yeah. Instead of a dick, you get a handsome jerk.” He smiles knowingly. She inhales sharply and socks him. Hard.

“I am going to **_kill_** Gwen.”


End file.
